


A heliocentric certainty

by jayjesus



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash, School Era, Short and hopefully somewhat sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-10-19 18:49:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20662010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jayjesus/pseuds/jayjesus
Summary: Kaiba's proposition takes Jou by surprise.





	A heliocentric certainty

Jonouchi was unfortunately very used to feeling dumb.

It wasn’t fair, not really; not like anybody had actively set out to make him feel like this: his friends were all loving and supportive, and they’d never ever do anything to make him feel inadequate- this, he knew in his bones. Even so, it was hard to fight the constant, trickling feeling that he was doing everything wrong, always seeping up on his back like a wet, cold chill.

Now, fidgeting in the uncomfortably small armchair of his homeroom teacher’s office, was another one of those times he felt remarkably useless.

He looked up from his hands and saw her rubbing her forehead over horn-rimmed glasses. 

“I’m sure you know why I’ve called you here.” 

He glared down at the bunch of papers spread on the desk, all adorned with a colorful variety of glaring red “F”s.

Yeah, he knew.

\--------------------------------------------------

Thing is, Jou wasn’t a lazy student. Never was, never would be. He showed up at school, maybe sometimes late, maybe not the best dressed or the most presentable; but he always showed up. He did his homework, and studied for the tests as much as his part-time jobs would allow.

Sometimes, Anzu would see the big red “F” on his test score and shake her head, laugh a bit. He would laugh with her, cause it was kind of funny. She would smack him in a manner he’s sure she intends as playful. That girl’s really not aware of her own strength, Jou would think. Then she’d tell him he should study more and play less video-games. He’d stick out his tongue and say games are apparently a prospect career these days, ain’t that right Kaiba?

Kaiba would just stare at him and say nothing. But he kept staring, sometimes, and Jou would feel his eyes burning hot on his neck. The mood in the room aways shifted when Kaiba gets involved somehow, and Anzu would retreat to her seat beside Miho.

It was so stupid.

\-----------------------------------------

The classroom was orange in the deceptively gentle light of evening, empty except for Jou, and the specks of dust glittering around him.

Yugi and Anzu had already left to hang out at the shop, and he had declined Honda’s offer to bike, giving some lame excuse about his desk.

So here he was, hunched over an incomprehensible english book with his head in his hands, scratching frantically at the scabs he’d already dug out on his scalp. Maybe it was time to cut his hair again, it was getting kind of long- maybe he should ask Shizuka to do it; how was she doing? 

He hadn’t seen her lately since she stopped by saturday, that saturday he’d went by Yugi’s house to pick up a new deck. It had warrior types, which was very good, but one of them kind of looked like a chicken which had made him laugh. It reminded him of the new burger joint open downto-

“Hey.”

“Fuck!” Jou shouted and looked back; Blue eyes shining from under the sickly shadow of greasy brown bangs bore into his.

Kaiba.

The boy was standing awkwardly with his schoolbag in one hand, and another outstretched as if to touch Jou’s shoulder, slowly retreating it like he caught himself mid-act. Jou’s brain ran sluggish, his head and mouth not quite synced up yet: “Wh. What, school’s over a while ago, what… You’re here. Uhhh. What’s that, about.” 

Kaiba frowned, “You’re here, too.”

“Uh, yeah I, uhhh,” Jou tried to remember what excuse he’d given Honda, “I’m here to ...clean up my desk.”

Dubiously, Kaiba examined the desk in question until his sour gaze wandered to the english textbook that Jou tried to hide under his elbow, “You’re studying, aren’t you. You’re retaking the test.”

Jou felt himself become hotly irritated, “That make you feel better, reminding me I’m dumb? Everyone already knows you’re the top student, no need to be fucking condescending.”

“I-”, Kaiba startled, visibly perplexed, “I never said- I don’t think you’re dumb.”

Huh. That was a first.

Jou scratched his nose.

“Whatever. Yeah I’m studying, so… not to be rude”, he added and wasn’t sure why, “but why don’tcha, make like a tree or somethin’. Ya breakin’ my concentration.”

“You stayed late studying yesterday too”, Kaiba continued on with all the tact and cadence of a speeding locomotive, “and the day before that. I saw you.”

“You followin’ me or somethin’, Richie Rich?” Jou was getting more annoyed by the second, “Yeah, I was here. So?”

Kaiba crossed his arms over his chest, “You told Mazaki you stayed up all night playing video games. You said that’s why you failed the test.”

Fuck.

Jou blushed, fighting off a strange urge to run away, mixed with a horrible instinct of sinking to the floor like putty and treat Kaiba like a confessionary for everything that’s ever gone wrong in his life. He braved a glance straight into Kaiba’s eyes for the first time during the conversation, and though he saw none of the expected venom, it did pitifully little to ease his worries.

“Well”, he started with a thick tongue, “Well I didn’t.”

It was hard to speak with how warm and heavy his head felt, but Kaiba’s face seemed to communicate understanding- or so Jou thought, before the boy (with enormous awkwardness) pulled out a chair to sit in front of Jou. Seemingly not knowing what to do with his huge spindly hands, he put them on his lap with movement that was made exaggerated by the length of his arms. He stared straight at Jou, seemingly deliberating whether to say something or not.

Absolutely fuck that, Jou thought, “Hey so, can you like leave m-”

“Let’s study together”, Kaiba said, way too fast and loud for this empty room. 

A bird chirped outside.

Two trucks passed, and the red glow from the dusty window helped to illuminate Kaiba’s serpentine features, his eyebags and dry skin. The yellow reflection in his pupils only served to further convince Jou that he’d somehow stepped into an alternate dimension. Kaiba frowned deeply.

“Let’s study together”, he said again, quieter but still in that strange manner of speaking; as if he wasn’t really sure what his own words meant when he haphazardly stapled them together.

“I heard you the first time”, Jou whispered, then shook his head and stood up, “hey- what? What do you mean?”

He didn’t know what he was saying anymore. Obviously it was a rhetorical question, or not so obviously to Kaiba, who pulled out a textbook from his bag. His bag... was old, Jou realized, and in pretty shabby condition. In places, the leather had dried and was peeling off in patches, contrasting Kaiba’s obviously new designer shoes

Strange, the things you notice, Jou thought hysterically. 

“It helps to study if you’re more than one person”, Kaiba said, and there was a shadow of pain in the way his mouth twisted that told Jou more than he had ever wanted to know about the other boy, “You can ask each other questions, and make sure you understand what you read, and... keep concentrated.”

He sounded like he was reading off a list, Jou realized, “Wait. Hold on.”

Kaiba stopped himself.

“You wanna help me?”

“I- N- Yes.”

“I don’t need this”, Jou sighed under his breath and ran a hand through his hair, sitting down again “No, no you know what- I really don’t need this. I don’t; I appreciate, but I’m not in the mood for handouts so if you please just-”

“It’s not- a handout”, Kaiba interjected, “it’s not- I thought it would be… mutually beneficial.”

“Mutually beneficial.” Jou chewed, “say, didn’t you get top scores on this same exact test?”

“I failed.” 

Jou stared at him for a while, during which Kaiba got progressively more interested in the clock behind them, and started fiddling with his nails. 

“You’re lying”, Jou said and was overcome with a rush of giddiness at the realization. He laughed, “You’re lying right now! To my face!”

“Am not”, Kaiba muttered, cheeks pink.

“You are! You super obviously are too! Oh man… Okay, okay; I know you’re lying, but like if you aren’t- show me your test. C’mon.” 

“No”, Kaiba speeded apparently without thinking it through well, because the next words out of his mouth were: “Mokuba ate it.”

Jou was howled with laughter and yet Kaiba, completely red in the face by this point, braved on: “I mean He didn’t- I didn’t- I didn’t fail but- please Jonouchi, I- I could’ve failed, and- and it was really close- don’t laugh-”, he frowned deeply and sank down in the chair “I... really would like us to study together, Jou.”

At the mention of his nickname, Jou stopped and looked at Kaiba. 

“Why? Like I don’t…” he let out a last huff of laugh and shrugged, dragging a hand over his face, “I don’t know why you’re doing this. I just… what?”

Either Kaiba didn’t know either, or he didn’t want to tell, because he just looked out the window with a pained expression.

“You’re not… I know you’re trying to be nicer lately,” Jou sighed, “But… really I. I don’t want to bother you with this. I’d just feel even worse. Why do you think I haven’t told Yug’? Or Honda? I…” he scratched a scab, “They already think I need help with most everything, and I want to do this one single thing by myself.”

“You won’t ask them for help”, Kaiba said sharply and turned around, “because they’re your friends. Because you’d feel guilty, and bad. That is why” he inhaled, and looked like he was breathing in nails, “I’m not your friend. You don’t need to worry about me, you don’t… like me. There’s no guilt, and no bother. I don’t talk to the others, so I couldn’t even tell them.”

The way Kaiba said this, as if it was an absolute truth of the universe, made Jou’s chest constrict somehow. Jou could see, in the clench of his hands, and wavering of his huge eyes, that this was a logic Kaiba himself had gone over thoroughly in his head, over and over again. He’d been thinking about this and concluded that, like the milky way is heliocentric, Jou would feel no remorse using him for own gain. The sun is hot, the moon is cold, and Jonouchi Katsuya hates Kaiba Seto. 

Jou himself didn’t know what to say.

Kaiba pushed on, “The way you’re studying now, it doesn’t help. I see it, and I know that you do too because I know you’re smart, Jou. If we were to study together, I think… we could be better, and”, he waved his hand vaguely, “you could, have time to hang out with Honda. He wouldn’t have to worry, or catch on.”

Now that was true. He couldn’t stay at school late everyday without eagle-eyed Honda eventually catching on to something fishy going on, which in turn, meant that Anzu and Yugi would find out, which would lead to a most dreaded intervention. He was right, even if Jou loathed to admit it. But… not completely right.

Kaiba sighed.

“I won’t… force you to.”

“You’re pretty dumb.”

Kaiba blinked, “What?”

Jou straightened up, “I said you’re pretty dumb, for someone so smart. You say you’re just going to fly by, that you aren’t my friend, all that”, he sniffed and scratched his nose, “but, uh... the thing you just said. Your plan. It don’t sound like something… someone other than a friend would do.”

Kaiba just stared.

You could’ve heard a pin drop between them, and Jou silently begged for that damn bird to come back and chirp some more, if only to relieve him from the burden of facing this conversation alone. Kaiba, whose face had transformed from a rancid pink to a curdled white, seemed to only be hanging on to life by Jou’s next word, only Jou didn’t have any more to give.

After scanning every inch of Jou’s face, Kaiba took a breath and asked, for the last time:

“Do you want to study together?” 

Jou laughed and shook his head.

“You really don’t give up, do ya?”

And Kaiba finally, finally smiled, letting the sun shine wholly on his gaunt face. He looked handsome, thought Jou.

“I’ve not been known to, no.”

“Well…” Jou smiled back, “Guess I’ve got no choice but to surrender, then.”

**Author's Note:**

> Maybe I'm projecting, maybe you're projecting. In any case, Jou has ADHD and Kaiba is Autistic... facts. I wrote this I think like a year ago, but I didn't have an account or anything then, so... I hope somebody finds enjoyment outta it, though!


End file.
